Content area
Full Text
Abstract
This article explores how authoritarianism in Ethiopia is constraining its citizens' ranges of political and digital expression. With a state monopoly on digital services, the country has lower rates of internet and mobile phone access than many of its African counterparts. Elowever. to reach its ambitious plan for national development, Ethiopian officials are increasingly deploying surveillance to mitigate the problem I refer to as the "Authoritarian Dilemma." Through more flexible modes of control like pervasive monitoring, intimidation, and targeted censorship, the one-party state is seeking to simultaneously promote growth and stifle digital dissent. I outline some of the methods and logics that the government is using to pursue these objectives. Yet, as I argue, the chilling effects of surveillance in Ethiopia also damage the prospects for sustainable development and further marginalize the voices of political challengers and critics.
Introduction
In October 2016, Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalgn declared a nationwide six-month state of emergency. This crackdown was precipitated by police officers using tear gas against protesters at a cultural festival and triggering a stampede that killed over fifty people (Schemm 2016). The situation escalated as citizens attacked state-owned and foreign factories and organized anti-government protests. As the government sharply curtailed the right to free assembly, security forces detained tens of thousands of Ethiopians and conducted warrantless searches of their homes (Schemm 2017). The state authorities also blocked social media access, and intensified the practice of internet censorship. By March 2017, the parliament had used the ongoing unrest in the country to jústily unanimously extending the state of emergency another four months (Schemm 2017).
Unfortunately, such limits on embodied and digital freedoms are merely an escalation of the rigorous security measures that Ethiopians have long faced. The situation is even more dire for groups like activists, journalists, minority groups, opposition party members, and expatriates who risk threats like detention and torture. Authorities have also subjected these vulnerable groups to targeted embodied and digital surveillance to further stymie their abilities to communicate, organize, and dissent. This expansion of control has exacerbated the already-deep divisions in Ethiopian society and heightened the culture of fear and paranoia among citizens.
In the following article, I will first historically situate the country's contemporary state of political and digital authoritarianism....